A bipartisan bill with
more than 200 co-sponsors in the House would prevent the Food and
Drug Administration from regulating “traditional and premium
cigars” under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control
Act. Roll Call notes
that the bill’s supporters include “political opposites” ranging
from Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Allen West (R-Fla.) on the right
to Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) and Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) on the
left. Cigar makers and tobacconists worry that FDA regulation
would impose
onerous burdens, including warning labels on packages, a ban on
phone sales, prohibition of flavored cigars, and a requirement
that cigars be kept away from customers in a separate room
accessible only to employees (which would spell the end of cigar
shopping as we know it). They argue that the tobacco control law
was mainly aimed at curtailing underage smoking and therefore
should not be applied to products that teenagers rarely consume.
The Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs
Preservation Act applies to unfiltered products wrapped in tobacco
leaf that weigh more than six pounds per 1,000
cigars.

Ordinarily I am leery of bipartisanship, special favors for
particular industries, and legislation that promises to save and/or
create jobs. But several factors count in this bill’s favor: 1) It
aims to block absurd regulations that would arbitrarily interfere
with adults’ freedom in the name of protecting children, 2) it is
opposed by Altria (a.k.a. Philip Morris) and the major anti-smoking
groups, the same coalition that gave us FDA regulation of tobacco
products, and 3) the arguments against it are fatuous. The Los
Angeles Times, for instance,
worries that “many high school and college students mistakenly
believe that cigars are not very dangerous.” Leaving aside the not
insignificant point that cigars are not, in
fact, “very dangerous,” why would regulation by the FDA, the same
agency charged with ensuring that drugs are “safe and effective,”
make cigars seem more rather than less hazardous?  

I
noted the cigar industry’s worries about FDA regulation last
December. As you might expect, Michael Bloomberg’s New York is

ahead of the FDA when it comes to stopping kids from smoking
cigarettes by barring adults from buying flavored cigars.

[Thanks to Bill Godshall for the tip.]